Reform of Technical Higher Education: Promoting Innovation-Based Growth

July 5, 2005

World Bank Moscow Office, Russia

The seminar on the reform of technical higher education to promote sustainable innovation and economic growth was organized by the World Bank in cooperation with the Higher School of Economics, National Training Foundation (Russia ) and Korea Development Institute (KDI). The seminar was a part of South-South Learning Program on Innovation. Agenda.

Please find below key presentations and a summary of the most salient and interesting points of Korea ’s higher education reform strategy as it is relevant to other countries and, especially, Russia.

Presentations

Higher Education Reform in South Korea - Policy Responses to a Changing World.(PDF, 1.2 MB) Gwang-Jo Kim, Ed.D, Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development,  Republic of Korea .

KAIST Overview for Education, Research and technology Commercialization.Prof. Jun ho Oh, Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology. (PDF, 1.01 MB)

Academy-Industry Cooperation: The POSTECH Experience.Prof. In SikNam Vice-President, Pohang University of Science and Technology. (PDF, 1.02 MB)

The First Innovative Cluster Campus in Korea.  Ji-Hong Kim, KDI School. (PDF, 1.71 MB)

 Summary

-Reform strategy: synergy between top-down and bottom-up efforts. The Korean economic miracle is often perceived as a science fiction -- inspiring but not particularly relevant. Frank discussion of many problems in Korea at the seminar put the Korean case within the realm of experiences immediately relevant for policy makers.

Korea has managed to create a large and fairly strong higher education system in a very short period of time. Nevertheless, there are still significant inefficiencies such as staggering amount of private tuition to prepare for entrance exams into universities (amounting to 2% of GNP), lack of university-industry linkages, etc. The reform strategy to address these inefficiencies in Korea can be characterized as a two-prong strategy: top-down efforts assure appropriate incentive framework while bottom-up approach focuses on setting 'organizations of excellence' and assuring conditions of their growth and diffusion.          

-Elite organizations as embryos and springboards of a new, more efficient system. 

Much like in the Soviet Union, the Korea higher education has evolved into a dual system: few elite organizations setting the benchmarks and operating outside the organizational boundaries of the established system, and 'mass' higher education. Please see above the presentations on KAIST and POSTECH -- two most advanced elite universities characterized by close university-industry linkages. KAIST, for instance, was created outside the boundaries of the Ministry of Education and still reports to the Ministry of Science and Technology, its students are exempt from military service, education is free and everyone receives scholarships.

Parallels with similar organizations in the Soviet Union, such as Physico-Technicheski'i Institute, are obvious. Yet, while in the Soviet Union such elite organizations remained enclaves and are now in rapid decline, in Korea they became springboards for further reforms. This difference between organizational enclaves and springboards is the key. Almost by definition, elite organizations are prone to capture by entrenched interests, they tend to become victims of their own success.       

-Assuring growth of an efficient system through search networks: matching 'the fish with the water.'  How do elite organizations remain vibrant and maintain capacity to continuously reinvent themselves? A story of POSTECH, Pohang Institute of Science and Technology, is emblematic of our major theme. POSTECH was a spin-off of POSCO, a leading Korean steel company, and was created in response to acute shortage of high-quality graduates. Two individuals were the key: chairman of POSCO who provided a space to experiment and a charismatic rector of POSTECH who had a motivation to do new things. 'They complemented each other like the water and fish' - this metaphoric description by Mr. In-Sik Nam, Vice-President of Pohang University, is an apt image of a general strategy. 'Matching the water with the fish' in this context means identifying exceptions from a general rule and providing them with a space (and accountability) to experiment. This way, organizational ecosystem of innovation and higher education would evolve to remain a thrust of organizational growth.           

This strategy of providing 'the exceptions' a space and accountability to experiment is based on search networks: networks of highly motivated individuals and organizations ('the exceptions') doing new things in spite and against many obstacles they are facing. Elite organizations become springboards of change as long as they remain incubators of such search networks.

Incubation of increasingly diverse search networks is a central strategy common to organizations as diverse as Foundation Chile (Chile ), Monterrey Institute and Technology (ITESM - Mexico ) or Scottish Enterprise (UK). Such organizations provide exceptional impact precisely because they incubate search networks in many diverse fields. A downside of such a strategy is that the organizations become too large and difficult to manage. To assure that they remain 'dancing elephants' rather than emerging empires, they need to spin-off many of their functions. Scottish Enterprise is an example of such spin-off strategy which could be of immediate interest to POSTECH, KAIST and other elite organizations in Korea.                    

In summary, one factor of Korean success is vibrant search networks that allow to rapidly identify people or institutions that are working on similar problems. This finding goes against the established wisdom which relies on high capabilities of government to be 'able to pick winners' as the all encompassing solution.    

-Lessons for a new innovation system in Russia: assembling a 'jigsaw' puzzle on the basis of many existing pieces. How are all these examples of search networks relevant to Russia? Russia is full 'fish' - innovative firms, organizations and individuals - doing new things despite a generally inhospitable environment. This 'fish' needs water - exceptional individuals and organizations on both federal and regional levels to provide it a habitat. The problem is that the 'fish' and 'water' exist independently of each other. In Albert Hirschman's terms, many elements of a jigsaw puzzle of innovation-based growth already exist, yet there is not even an embryo of a mechanism putting together the elements of a jigsaw puzzle into a coherent whole. This is precisely what search networks do - they provide missing connections.

Embryos of a new efficient innovation system with strong university-industry linkages and connections to the world market can be created and scaled up through two complementary approaches:  identifying and supporting joint university-industry linkages which are already underway and providing new connections. Appropriately organized contests are the key. In the case of new university-industry alliances, small grants should be provided to transform an idea into a viable business plan, which can then be financed though a separate funding window on a matching fund basis with the industry.